In Aid

39. Closing One Door

Aubyn and I had half-joked about how his Hieu could do some serious damage to Jeff if he dared to harm me to remind me that he had my back. He and I went through all sorts of backup plans, one of which included me yelling for him if my meeting with Jeff went sideways. I agreed to let him drive me to Jeff's place, but not to join me inside. Knowing Jeff he would feel as if I was ganging up on him somewhat when I was only really trying to part with him peacefully.

I was beginning to think that maybe all our preparations had been for nought because Jeff was being surprisingly calmer than usual, just like he had been on the phone when we agreed to meet. I stared at Jeff, having not touched the water he'd offered me when I entered his house for what I hoped to be the last time.

"I didn't think you'd bring backup."

"To make sure you don't do anything scary again." I picked at the skin around my thumb. "I'm leaving," I said.

Jeff looked at me over his mug of coffee. "You just got here."

"I mean I'm leaving this city," I corrected myself. "I don't plan on coming back either. That's why I wanted us to part on decent terms."

"Where are you going?" Jeff asked, sounding tight.

"I'm not sure yet," I said. I knew I was going to Karys, but as far as I've heard, it was a big country. Where I was to be living while there, I had no clue, so it was only half a lie. "I'm leaving with that friend I'm working-"

"No, you're not."

I sighed. I was hoping to avoid the craziness that happened the last time we saw each other in person, but I knew it was going to be a long shot. "I am. I'm not living the way you think. I'm done with sleeping around. I just want to settle down, get a job, and live a normal life. He's going to help me do that."

"And I can't?"

"It's not about you!" I caught myself. If I raised my voice, it would only make him do so too. "I told you this before and I'm tired of repeating myself. I don't want to be with you. I don't want sex. I don't want you to take care of me. I don't want to live with you. What I want is to live a normal life and learn to stand on my own two feet."

Jeff placed his mug down on the coffee table. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out the last time we met up. I have been under a lot of stress though it doesn't excuse my behaviour. So, if that's why you're saying these things, then I completely understand."

"That's not why, but you did freak me out that day," I confirmed.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "Can we start over? We can't do that if you move away. I'm not only saying I want you to stay because I want you to live with me. I have decided to let you go in hopes that you will come back to me eventually. I've heard some fishy things about the vacuras you've come to love so much."

I rolled my eyes, something I'd refrained from doing recently because Aubyn looked like he'd spank me every time I did it. "There are a lot of rumours going on. There always has been."

"And most of them are more legit than you realize. You're still just a naïve child thinking they came here to save Earth from the damage we've done to it." Jeff leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "That human trafficking incident three years ago was them, and they're still doing it now. That incident only surfaced because they were being found out and pretended to uncover it while pinning it on a bunch of humans. They were kidnapping humans from Earth and selling them on their planet."

"That's a load of bullshit," I said.

That had to be the most elaborate rumour I'd heard yet. I was used to the usual ones like the vacuras were here to kill all the humans and make Earth their home, or that the vacuras only looked human because they wore the skin of the humans they killed and ate the insides of, or even that they could turn humans into one of them like vampires. It still made me uneasy though because Jeff was the second person in a handful of weeks to tell me about vacuras trafficking humans.